BEYOND THE HUMAN: UNSTABLE MEDIA ART CONSTRUCTING NEW SOCIAL REALITIES

In times of current social and ecological crises, there is a need for urgent action. Many argue that the major cause of climate change is that our dominant paradigms are deeply rooted in traditional Western human-centred ideology and anthropocentric attitudes towards nature. The need to envision a completely new ontology, which redefines toxic human-nonhuman relationship, places artists in a unique position. Although the role of arts in (re)shaping social realities is recognized, it often remains unclear how exactly it is done. Drawing widely on posthuman theory, this study argues for the potential of art to social change, illustrating specific ways through which art engages with the critique of anthropocentrism and creates new social imagination, which includes both human and nonhuman perspectives and realities. This research is situated in the frames of so-called “new sociology of arts”. Focusing specifically on the works of art, this study looks for their relation to broader sociocultural contexts of the ongoing posthuman turn. Drawing on “Manifesto for the Unstable Media” (1987) published by V2_ Lab for Unstable Media, this research analyses the selection of artistic projects that fall under the category of “Unstable Media”. The unique characteristics of unstable media art, in particular its technological nature, participatory and interactive aspects, and instability are seen as an intrinsic factor to social change. Through utilizing a qualitative content analysis method, this research analyses the selection of artworks from the digital V2_Archive. The findings identified three major categories that form the basis of this study and are presented through the more extensive analysis of twenty three the most illustrative examples of artworks. Results of the analysis show that unstable media art is particularly effective in taking a more inclusive approach and recognizing the realities of nonhuman biological agents, positioning the human among the myriad of conscious and sentient nonhuman forms of life. Another inference drawn from this study is that unstable media art becomes a platform to rethink human relationship with technological others. Finally, unstable media art takes a non-anthropocentric view on the environment, constructing an environmentally aware society, suggesting sustainable solutions and imagining non-hierarchical interspecies relations.